


Dark Contagion

by REDMedicKatja



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Attempted Murder, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood Trauma, Ethylene Glycol, Female Pyro, Gen, Hallucinations, Holocaust references, Obsession, Obsessive-Compulsive, Paranoia, Platonic Female/Female Relationships, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Psychotropic Drugs, Serial Killers, Surgery, Thallium, Torture, Twins, Unknown Gender Pyro, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-21
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-26 11:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2649773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/REDMedicKatja/pseuds/REDMedicKatja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the mercenaries of Teufort, everything is routine, maybe even boring. When they get a couple of new recruits in that they have to train, they can't imagine that things will start to spiral out of control. But they do, and the group discovers that everyone has secrets...some of them deadly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this is significantly dolled up from the FF.net version, and I plan to copy the revisions over there eventually. Though it's not completely done yet, and to be honest I don't know how many chapters this is gonna go, I thought I'd take some of the critique there and revise old parts while still writing. Ambitious job, I know.  
> It's not false advertising, this will have all those tags in it at some point, though many...you'll just have to wait for.

Candidate number 45 was a twenty-six year old resident with an impressive academic record and a reputation among coworkers as being intelligent, quick to action and a walking encyclopedia, if a little young and inexperienced. Also, sane.

"Let me get this straight, Miss Pauling. Despite this write-up, number 45 accepted the offer of a mercenary job?" "Yes, ma'am." "What's the catch, then? What's wrong with number 45?"

"Nothing really."

"Nothing 'really'?"

Miss Pauling handed the woman a few more files. She scanned them and immediately understood. Number 45, the surgeon from Dachau, Bavaria, was a woman. There likely wouldn't be a lot of jobs for her, at least in the legitimate practices. The file photos showed a voluptuous woman maybe 5'5" in height, with her girlish face making her look like she was more in her early rather than late twenties. The young woman looked like she could hold her own out on a battlefield, with her shoulders broad, her legs muscular and stocky, and enough extra weight not to be blown back by weapon recoil. Katja Ulrike, older sibling of athlete Lukas Ulrike and younger of musician Adrian Ulrike. The middle child of a farm family with a zeal for medicine and no criminal record to speak of.

"Bring her in, then, will you?"

Miss Pauling exited briefly to go fetch the woman, who honestly as if she belonged with the group of loud, bawdy recruits sitting outside. The Bavarian shrunk when her eyes met Helen's. Her boldness seemed to falter just a bit when she saw the older woman.

"So, you're going to accept the proposal?"

"...Ja."

"Your records are very good..." The older woman mused. She watched as Katja seemed to perk back up. Amusing, almost cute.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, and that's what's odd here. You are aware what kind of people usually take this job, don't you?" "Yes, Miss Pauling explained it to me in great detail. I am very aware of the indictable acts of your laborers. This is of no concern to me."

She spoke as if she was constantly working with a dictionary. Considering she'd lived in Germany her entire life, it wasn't out of the question.

"Is there a problem with my credentials, miss?"

"No, and that was our main concern. You've never even been to prison..."

"Should I have been? Because I'm sure that if I-"

Helen stopped her before she could offer. The very fact that she was going to offer was impressive in itself.

"No, no. Just drop it. You'll do fine. You'll receive a letter detailing your assignment and plane tickets in exactly three days, Miss Ulrike. You will have your things packed by then, and you will be on the next plane. Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

When the woman was dismissed, Miss Pauling looked at her superior. 

"I think she'll do well."

"I imagine she will..." The older woman took a long drag on her cigarette and her thin, cracked lips curled into a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Katja is by no means a wallflower, but I imagine everyone was a little intimidated of Helen when they first met her. 
> 
> This is a really short one, but there wasn't much I could do for this one, I have to admit.


	2. Jet Lagged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katja and the other mercenaries begin their journey to Teufort, much to the discomfort of the RED Spy, who finds that these people are a little...suspicious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Katja's a feisty, uncivilized little brick shit-house who drinks like a frat boy, but you'll see why they picked her(and the others) soon enough.

The plane ride had been one of the most unpleasant things she had done. It wasn't as if Katja didn't know what to do...she'd taken enough classes to know exactly what kind of injuries she could expect in a war zone...but there was still apprehension. Perhaps it was the idea of leaving the only home she'd ever known, especially for a country that had been hostile not too long ago. Still, that money was a good incentive...

"Katja, your knuckles are white." Her younger brother methodically pried her fingers off his armrest. 

"Sorry, Lukas." 

"This is the third time...are you really that worried?" 

She was considering lecturing him about how dangerous heights could be on the human body, and how helpless they would be if the plane started to fall, but decided against it. Instead, she pushed her glasses back up onto her nose and went back to her book. The soothing sight of medical journals would fix this.

**\--**

 

The RED Team Spy found the lack of information on the new recruits quite...unpleasant. He had files on everyone else(save Pyro, whose files were doctored and censored beyond belief), but there was almost nothing on the six coming. It did not help that the record for the new Medic and Scout were in some sort of regional German dialect. The Medic dismissed it entirely after looking at the language, saying something about ‘mountain people’ and ‘Weisswurst’.

The most he'd been able to get out of it was that the one was a student at some highly-regarded university, and the other was an athlete...

As for the three new BLUs, and the last one, those records seemed as though they hadn't come in yet.

**\--**

"So, Katja, we're working out in a desert?"

"As far as I know. That would be what this travel guide says..."

Well, it was a long trip, for a questionable profession, but it paid well. A single payday would be enough to fix the roof, add more cattle pens…the house would look better than the day it was first built. She let the knowledge that she was helping her family dominate her thinking. That served to release tension…and there was certainly quite a bit of it. Being approached out of nowhere, asked to work somewhere she’d never been, and on top of it, by someone who seemed to already know everything about her. But money would be good. Their arrival to the states was uneventful, as was their boarding of the train. No one paid them any mind. It seemed as though people had grown used to the influx of mercenaries from foreign countries. No one seemed to particularly like the idea, but…

“Do you mind if I sit in this car?”

The siblings glanced over to see a red-headed young man with his face dotted with freckles.

“Going to the Badlands, right?”

“Ja, we are.”

He set his bags down like the other two and there was an awkward silence punctuated only by the sound of the train.

“I assume you two must be on RED, right?”

“Ja, that was our team assignment…what was the other team?”

“Builder’s League United. BLU.”

A snicker rose up among the three new recruits. That was amusing. What were the odds of such a thing?

“Oh…yes, I’m Katja. Katja Ulrike. This is my brother Lukas.”

“My name is Zach Bloom. You can just call me Zach.”

Katja sprawled out along the seat opposite the boys, propping her boots up on the table in the middle. Refinement was for aristocrats.

“So, is your beer as bad as they say it is in Germany, or…?”

“It probably is. I don’t drink alcohol. It’s got far more interesting properties.”

“Mm, you do have a point there.” 

**\--**

“So, why do we gotta hang around a bunch of newbies all day?” The Scout complained, putting an empty can of Bonk on a rock. They were all a little angry. They’d all been roused an hour early and informed, the morning of the event of course, that they would be training recruits. Like a golfer, the chatterbox lowered his bat and lined up the shot. When the mumbling freak known as the Pyro spoke up calmly, he flinched and nearly missed his putt. He assumed Pyro was similarly annoyed.

“So what if they do! The BLUs can deal with newbies. I don't want to have to. Hey, heads up!”

His bat cracked against the empty can and sent it flying over the train tracks.

“Don't be annoying, boy.”

The spy, Damien, removed a cigarette from his pack and blew a few rings of smoke into the air.

“You tryin' ta start somethin'?”

The ever-inebriated Tavish was passed out on the ground, leaving a perfectly good indent of him in the dirt and sand. He only paused from his stupor to grunt and spew a line of gibberish.

"One, two, three, four, five...Tavish has a point. We're missing four maggots." The Soldier pointed to each of the men as he counted them.

"You understood that?" Damien asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I just hope he don't try to climb the towers again." Nathan prodded the drunken Scot with his bat, eliciting another round of gibberish.

"Hey, didn't the Doc say we're s'pposed to put him on his side?"

"I am busy." Damien blew another smoke ring. "You can do it."

"Naw, Frenchie. I ain't touchin him. You remember what happened last time. So, do you know anything about the newbies, Frenchie?"

"There are three." The spy said dismissively, flicking soot off the cigarette. "A medic, a scout, and a pyro. The medic and scout insisted on not being separated. I believe they're siblings."

"So, how long do you figure before they get here?" The train came by at an obviously unsafe speed, nearly crashing as it stopped suddenly.

"I hate that train." Nathan grumbled.

"Bmmcmm muu gmot rrumm ommer my mtt?" Pyro asked, drawing in the sand.

"I hated it before it ran over me!"

"Miststück!"

Katja verbally assaulted the train in German before dragging her things out. The chatterbox ignored the other two passengers getting off and immediately turned his attention towards the labcoat.

“Damn. Brick shithouse.”

Katja looked incredibly confused. Of the five men here, one was wearing a suit, one was passed out, one looked like he couldn't be more than 21, one was wearing an entire Hazmat suit, and only one looked like an actual soldier. Nathan leaned up against his bat, trying to look suave for one of the few ladies he'd seen since his time in Teufort. The bat slid out from under him and he fell on his face. Katja paid no attention to what he was trying to do, and instead focused on the fact that he had fallen on his face. Lukas and Zach started laughing.

"Are you okay, young man?"

"Uh, yeah. Just fine. You're a girl right?"

Damien let out a groan and a sigh. What a question...

"Yes...does that matter?"

"Of course not. So, ah, how tall is your husband?"

"I'm not married. Work is far more important. What a strange question..."

She dropped the matter entirely.

"My name is Katja. Katja Ulrike, Dr. med. This is my brother Lukas, and this is...Zach, correct?"

"You're good."

The Soldier frowned. "You look a little young.”

"I'm not, actually. I'm 26...besides, I'm highly praised by my professors!"

This seemed to put a few of the others at ease. At least she knew what she was doing.

"Anyway, I would like to begin working with your doctor. We're wasting time just standing here, and tardiness is unacceptable!"

"That's the spirit!" The Soldier cheered. He had apparently forgotten about her snapping at him only moments earlier. "Come here, cupcake."

The American's large hands grabbed Katja's arm and dragged her towards the base, describing to her in detail how he expected her to dissect and destroy the BLUs. Occasionally she would interject to protest the medical inaccuracies.

"Hey, Sally! Your nurse is here!" He shouted, kicking the door to the operating room in. The Medic was standing there, wrist-deep in the visceral organs of a man wearing a hard hat. The man turned around, his ice-colored eyes looking as if they could bore through someone's very flesh. He seemed annoyed, but his face contorted into an off-putting grin when Katja was shoved into the room. She turned back to find the Soldier, but he had excused himself from the room as fast as possible.

"This is new doktor?" Someone with a heavy Russian accent...and equally heavy footsteps, caught her attention. There was a man next to the Medic, an enormous man with a gun that, at least from her standpoint, might have been as large as her younger brother.

"Doctor is so little!" The larger man marveled, putting his catcher's mitt of a hand on her head. Katja mumbled something about 'female growth periods' and 'less-than-optimum childhood nutrition' before she was pulled into a bone-crushing bear hug. "HA HA HA! Is funny to me!" He laughed a laugh that was equally as enormous as he was.

"Don't kill her, Nikolai."

"Would never." He set the young woman down. Huh...well, that took care of the crick in the back, at least.

"So, what do you know about your job, Miss Ulrike?"

"That I'm going to be serving as a medic in a war zone, but because of my inexperience I am assigned to your care."

"Well, let me just show you what you'll be getting into..."

 


	3. Feeling the Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First thing's first, it's best to get settled. But the battle doesn't wait for anyone, and it seems that the new guys have some competition.

“I assumed you would be female, or had very sadistic parents…”

“If it helps, my middle name is Johann…”

“Fair enough…call me Medic. You’ve already met Nikolai there, it seems.”

“Ja, ich habe.” Katja dusted herself off after she was put down. A pile of neatly-folded clothes were then shoved into her hands.

“I am Heavy Weapons Guy.” Nikolai said curtly.

“I have to say, doc, she looks far less homicidal than you do.”

“I know…” Medic sounded almost disappointed by that.

“I keep it under wraps. I suppose I should drop off my things?”

“Ah, hope you don’t mind, ma’am, but your place is next to the operating theater…”

“Oh, that will be even better. Let me just put my things away…”

It was a small room, with only the essentials for furnishings. A dresser sat in the corner, a desk on the wall opposite a window, and a single large bed. That would do. She started unpacking almost immediately. It wasn’t much. Clothes went into the dresser, books on the desk, and a few pictures from home to remember everyone. She immediately donned her uniform and was slipping the boots on when her brother rushed in.

“Katja!”

“Knock next time.”

“Um, he says he wants to show you around. But specifically, just you.”

“Well, I mean…” The Scout attempted to explain, but Lukas wasn’t hearing it.

“I’m not stupid; I know what you’re trying to do. We were given maps. We don’t need to be shown around.”

“Well, ah, you haven’t been introduced to everyone!”

Katja raised an eyebrow.

“And you were figuring that you needed to introduce me, just me, to everyone else? You’re hardly very smooth.”

Well, that was certainly blunt. Still, the itty-bitty man wasn’t giving up yet. He was obviously a catch.

The siblings walked off together, lapsing back into German from English almost immediately. Soldier scowled. Those two would have to learn good old American at some point. He decided he’d teach them later.

The siblings walked up the wooden steps and through old hay to the ledge of the base. That’d provide a nice vantage point and presumably allow them to not be harassed by annoying little shits from Boston.

“Katja, you could just punch him if he does that again.”

“Mm, I am here to fix the injuries of my teammates, not create them.”

They fell silent as they watched a gangly man take aim with a rifle. They figured he needed to be able to concentrate for this.

“So, you must be the new offsiders. Shouldn’t there be three of you?”

“Well, he had something else he wanted to look at. But yes.”

He pulled the trigger and a spent shell went clattering to the floor.

“Direct hit, I take it?”

“I don’t miss.” He gave them a fleeting glance, but then went back to his hunting.

“I’m the Sniper. You might want to keep your name and identity to yourself, Sheila. Most people around here won’t be using it.”

“Well, alright, if you insist. So, what did you hit?”

“I caught a couple of rabbits. I might clean ‘em and cook ‘em later. They’re a mite tough, but good enough…” He gave Katja a sideways glance.

“Surprised you haven’t been menaced by the annoying little ankle-biter yet.”

“If you mean the Scout, then yes, I have been…he never stops talking, does he?”

“No, he’s not. For your benefit, Sheila, I’d avoid the showers at 7:30…he’s always in there at 7:30. The others won’t bother you.”

“Oh, thank you.” She did appreciate the advice. If she had to deal with that annoying little guy every time she showered, this job wasn’t going to go well.

“You could always just punch him.”

“Please, that would defeat the point of the shower.”

“Thought I’d find y’all up here…so, are the new guys coming to dinner tonight?”

“I don’t know about the Pyro, but I wouldn’t mind. I didn’t know there were plans.”

“Mm, Truckie wants us to head to this steak place.”

“The entire team?” Lukas couldn’t exactly imagine that sheer number of people trying to go out for food.

“Well, no, Spy’s a stickler for his French food, and Pyro might not even eat…so it was going to be me, Demoman, Soldier, Sniper…”

“The drinks are cheaper if you take a group, you know.” The Demoman declared.

“In that case, we’ll be happy to come. I’m not drinking any of what he drinks, though. I don’t like dry alcohols.”

“So, are we taking the camper?”

“There’s not enough room in my truck, so…”

“The van it is, then. You’ve got your stuff set up yet, shiela?”

“Oh! Yes. I’ve already done that.”

-

Katja was seated shotgun, looking at the city outside of Teufort base with bright eyes and a grin. It didn’t really matter that the place was a garbage-covered, rat-infested, lead-poisoned shithole, it was new to her.

“…Is the huge pile of garbage normal…?”

“Yup, that’s been there as far as we can remember.”

Well, that was just irresponsible and disgusting.

“Is that normal in American cities or just here? The books I read never mentioned…”

“This town just happens to be disgusting. It’s not normal of America, if that’s what you mean.”

“Oh…” She trailed off and continued looking out the window. At least the buildings were nice.

“So, you ever had a good steak? Like, from a cow?”

“Have I had Rindersteak? Yes.” What a foolish question.

\--

Well, that hadn’t gone as they’d hoped, but considering at least one of the team had been seriously drunk, it should have been expected.

“We keep driving and we never talk about that again. Okay?”

“Agreed.”

“This day never occurred.”

“Hey, I want to ride shotgun, can we pull over?” The Scout grabbed Katja’s arm, causing her to clench her fists.

“No, I am not moving.”

“Stop being a bitch!”

“I am NOT a dog!”

Soldier was hogging the bathroom, much to the annoyance of Engineer, who needed to use it, and wasn’t about to unzip and go in a jar. Meanwhile, Demoman wondered when they got three more people on the team.

The ruckus continued into the night, up until midnight, when it all just seemed to stop.

-Before the fight, the next morning-

“If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!” The Soldier launched into the same spiel he did before every battle. Only the newbies were at all excited about it.

“ _Ja! Wir müssen!”_

“Sun Tzu said that. And I think he knows a little bit more about fighting than you do, pal.”

“I am sure he did know more about that than I do.”

“He invented it!”

“He did…?”

“Yes, and he perfected it! Do not sound off unless asked to!”

Zach put his arms down.

“Now, since the new maggot-lings haven't fought yet, we're going to have to teach them everything we know.”

When the siren went off, Lukas and Nathan ran onto the battlefield as fast as they possibly could, shoving eachother the entire way. They didn’t stray too far, much like the others. It was easier to keep near one’s mentor to learn the ropes properly.

Katja briefly did this, but then rushed off to help the others. She was needed, and she wasn’t going to deny them the use of her abilities. As for Lukas and Nathan, they were busy harassing the BLU Demoman. Lukas was taunting and shouting things at him, while Nathan took the Scotsman's distraction as a chance to beat him down. They worked fairly well together. Katja spied Jane headed off towards the BLU base and decided to follow him, as the Pyro team had already broken off to defend the Intel.

“You ever been in a fight, cupcake?” He asked, with a somewhat-crazed glint in his eyes.

“A few times in my youth...” She grinned.

“Alright then, cupcake, just stay behind me and try not to get picked off. They love to get the Medics first.”

So, okay, 'cupcake' was now her nickname. Well, that was okay. She'd been called worse.

“Look out!”

Katja yipped as a bullet whizzed by her neck.

“Vhat is..?”

“That's a Sentry, pumpkin. Let's see you do your first kill. And look at that. There's the Engy. They're always next to their buildings. Just follow me.”

Before Katja could really respond, he charged, screaming as loud as he possibly could. She chased after him, keeping her Medigun trained on him and keeping him healed while he ran face-first into range of the Sentry.

“Am I 'cupcake' or 'pumpkin' now?” She shouted over the noise, but it was doubtful that he really heard her.

“Fight like a man, you grease-monkey!” With his taunt said, the RED Soldier went after the BLU Demoman that the Scouts had been harassing earlier.

“Now, hun, I don't normally hit girls.”

The Engineer slammed her in the face with his gloved hand. She chuckled and spat blood from her mouth. “Oh. I bit my tongue. If you had hit me better, you could have broken somezhing, you _alte Landsau_.”

She dove forward with bonesaw in hand and went for the Texan's arm, plunging the blade into her attacker and not even flinching when the man's bone cracked noisily.

“MEDIC!” She paused and yanked the saw out of his arm. “Ve vill finish zhis later.”

She ran towards the source of the voice. Nathan's face was pretty beat up, and he gave a sigh of relief when Katja came running, a frown on her face.

“Too much for you, Kitty?” Nathan grinned, revealing a few missing teeth.

“Of course not. Hold still.” Katja turned the Medigun on him and a similar grin crossed her own face. “Now get out zhere! Schnell! I have an Engineer to deal vith!”

The Sentry Gun started firing like mad when Nikolai and Diethelm ran by, the larger man glowing bright red and the bullets bouncing off both Heavy and Medic. She wanted to stare, but her feet kept moving despite the fact that her brain wasn't.

“Ve are not done here!” She leapt at him with her bonesaw in hand, intending on finishing the job.

“You might vant to look away.” Katja looked at the Engineer with a serious, somewhat concerned expression on her face.

“It vill hurt for a second.” She went for the neck this time, making sure to go swiftly and as painlessly as possible.

“Eat this!” As soon as she was done with the Engy, she was kicked across the face by someone.

Katja flew backwards, landing on her butt.

“Hey! You're a girl, too!”

“Mmn...” Katja looked up. Her attacker was in fact a girl. She was slighter than the male soldier, but still stocky and muscular. That made sense. Underneath that bulky cobalt helmet was a bob of shiny black hair and a pair of blue eyes.

“Urgh…who are you?”

“Private Leah, at your service, little miss!” The helmet wavered on her head. “You must be their newbie…nice to meet you.”

Odd that she was acting so friendly, but Katja didn’t really mind all that much.

“I thought we were going to fight…”

“Of course we’re going to fight!”

The woman moved in for the attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Katja is a feisty one, isn't she? But I think she's met her match, here.


	4. Hell Yes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle really gets going, and we get to spend a little time with mercenaries.

The epinephrine was flowing like a waterfall now, the cortisol was coming and the blood was pumping. Katja’s pupils dilated and she yanked her head back, narrowly avoiding a broken jaw as the shovel swung past her face. Almost reflexively, the hand with the bonesaw went out, shredding part of the other woman’s sky blue fatigues and narrowly grazing her side somewhere near the fifth rib. Had her aim been truer, she could’ve gone through the oblique fissure of the lung on that side, but hers was a reflex, nothing more. The first bloom was hers, however.  
“You’re pretty fast!”   
The Soldier girl’s tone was jovial, almost excited, and Katja couldn’t help but find herself smiling along, at least until the shovel came back around. She had to give the other woman credit. That was impressive muscle mass. Katja was more lean muscle and fat, honed by years of farmwork, but this woman seemed to be rather buff. They paused for what had seemed like hours to them as someone plunged, screaming, off the BLU base’s battlements. A black haired male Sniper with a knife in his back grabbed for a ledge with his last few nerve impulses, but it was too late by the time he hit the ground.   
“Logan! Oh…nevermind…” The girls looked at one another for a brief second, and then went back at it.   
Katja got the first hit once again with her saw, but Leah countered, catching her in the face with the shovel, causing an unpleasant noise and an equally unpleasant numbness and stiffness as the jawbone was messily dislocated. She popped the bone back into place absentmindedly before going for the Soldier’s visceral organs. Her arm stopped abruptly, as if her brain simply couldn’t reach it. It occurred to her fairly quickly that this wasn’t the only part of her that was now paralyzed…her lungs weren’t inflating.   
Cut C4, breathe no more. She, of course, couldn’t feel it, but a hand pushed against her shoulderblade and pulled out the butterfly knife, taking spinal fluid with it.  
“That is fast…” The relatively inexperienced Spy murmured, wringing his gloves of the clear fluid.   
“I was fighting her, you know.” Leah pouted, nudging the paralyzed, dying woman’s body with her boot.   
“You seemed like you needed help.” That was a sincere admission. The one thing that ‘Joe’ hadn’t been able to pick up on was the BLU Spy’s harshness and sarcasm. His skill with the knife was admirable, though.   
“We’re not done here, you two…”   
They’d assumed that the young-looking male was a newbie like them, but he’d quickly corrected them. Heilwig Adalwin, a babyfaced male from Austria (which was nothing at all like Australia, as Leah had recently learned), was deceptively effective at his job. He paused for just a moment to patch up Leah before the loudspeakers crackled to life.  
“Alert! The enemy has taken the Intelligence!”   
The Bavarian was smiling. Her last conscious act had been to grin cheekily.   
“She was a distraction…” Heilwig hissed, lightly shoving the two other mercenaries back into action.   
Katja hadn’t exactly planned on it, but when the chance came up; she felt it only right to take it. Luckily, the death had been pretty quick and painless, all things considered. Maybe she was pretty good at this!  
“Clever, aren’t we?” The BLU said to himself. He had to give her credit, there. He followed after the colossal Russian now, looking for the carrier of the Intel.   
As for Katja, she was getting her first taste of the ‘respawn’. She was above the battlefield briefly, gazing out at the others fighting. Her back arced again and her head jerked back as her spinal cord began to repair itself, sending feeling and mobility back to everything from the neck down. It started with a tingle, like a minor electric shock, and for a split second every muscle in her body seemed to be undergoing tetanic contractions. Her wounds began to heal at a rate that should have been completely impossible.   
When it all ended, she was in the room, with little more than a quickly-fading nausea for her troubles.   
“You’re like a car crash in slow motion! What’s the matter, you freakin’ stupid?!” She recognized the rapid-fire jabbering of the older Scout and followed after, determined to follow through with this. She joined her brother running interference and drawing fire. It hurt, but with the adrenaline pumping, she really didn’t mind.   
RED had an early lead, and they kept it. When the round ended, the Administrator’s voice was as clear and condescending as ever. Heilwig threw his hands up in the air, Leah moved to punch the nearest person in the nose and Katja looked ecstatic. That wasn’t so hard…it really wasn’t.  
\--  
It was oddly refreshing, and at the same time oddly disappointing, to have free time on her hands. It was a bit of a luxury when one tried to balance farm work, adequate sleep, and medical school. She’d taken a walk around the base to find everyone, and stopped briefly when she saw the Sniper and Engineer seated out away from the base by a roaring fire.   
“Careful, Doc. There are rattlesnakes out here. They’re awfully ornery…”   
“I imagine. Are you two trying to avoid everyone?”   
The Sniper responded with a silent grunt, and Katja assumed this was meant to end the conversation. She couldn’t be sure.   
“Aye, ya did good on yer first day, lass. At last thass what I heard.”   
She barely reacted to the scent of alcohol on his breath, but she did note that it was far too sweet for the alcohols she was fond of. Putting sugar into alcohol was just unheard of, unless this was something different.   
“Do you have anything dryer? Something made with actual hops? Preferably of the noble variety?”  
Spirits weren’t nearly as high at the BLU base. Their sniper and his new recruit were seated side-by-side, both frowning. The younger hadn’t bothered to cut his long-ish black hair and was sipping from a stolen mug. The older was rubbing his increasingly unshaven chin with a free hand. He’d run out of razor blades and was eagerly looking forward to getting some new ones, if only so he didn’t have to share with anyone else anymore.   
“You almost missed dinner, Heilwig.”   
“I was a little busy.” The conversation would end there. Heilwig was not one who shared much information. He absent-mindedly folded his now bandaged hands over one another.   
“Did you get hurt?”   
“I wasn’t careful with a concentrated chemical. I’ll be fine.” No one bothered to ask why he couldn’t have just trained the Medigun on himself, and he appreciated that. Too many holes in his story.   
“That Medic chick certainly did a number on you, Leah.” The BLU Scout snickered. He received a punch in the arm in return.   
“You got beat up by her little brother!”   
“You need to work on your smoothness, James.” The BLU Spy began, looking at his significantly-less suave little friend.  
“Is that really important? I stabbed her, didn’t I?”  
“Mail call, maggots!” The BLU Soldier, somehow the unofficial leader, entered the room. It wasn’t that he had any sort of authority, but it was more that no one else really gave a damn and he just happened to yell loud enough. He tossed envelopes and packages at his team members…except Leah, who got hers handed to her.   
“Your country commends you, Private. I expect a disembodied head on my desk by Thursday. Is this clear?”   
“Crystal, sir!”  
“Lunatics…” The Sniper, who’d been so quiet up till now, took a swig from his mug and mumbled into his coffee. The Scout ripped his package open and squealed.   
“Ma sent cookies!”   
Several men snickered, but the Sniper scooted over in hopes of getting a cookie from his diminutive, annoying friend.  
“Did you get anything, Heilwig?”   
“Eh? No, I didn’t get any letters today.”   
“Do you ever get letters?”   
“Of course I do.” He said reflexively.   
“Man, I can’t believe I missed that catfight. I had to chase after the Intel, you know, do some real work.”   
“Oh, shut up. Are those chocolate?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting going, very quickly.


	5. Agua Mala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A strange disappearance in another base prompts the teams to hold their fire for a day, but things are definitely not as they seem in 2Fort, either.

“You’re hovering, Miss Pauling.” The Administrator glanced at the smaller woman disapprovingly.  
“There was a disappearance in Hydro.”   
“Another one?”   
“Yes, the ah…” She flipped through the papers on her clipboard. “The BLU Spy from Hydro has gone missing. They’ve ruled out respawn malfunctions.”   
“Find them a replacement.” She said simply, putting out her cigarette.   
“Well, we have a free one, but…”   
“We don’t need super soldiers. Killing isn’t glamourous, after all. If he can do his job, it doesn’t matter.”   
“Yes ma’am…do you want someone to go out and investigate the base?”   
“I doubt you could ever make that happen…you know how people feel about the mercenaries.”   
\--  
The operation theater was on edge. Katja had her eyes trained on a tiny, scraggly little week-old dove. She was starting to develop some rapport with her mentor’s flock, although the females still seemed jealous and the males confused. She wasn’t too used to that kind of closeness with a bird, considering her experience with them had only been in poultry, but there were similarities.  
“Well, he’s made it this long.” She mumbled, digging through the aviary supplies that for some reason were near the things one would use to intubate a human. Eventually, she did find what she was looking for.   
“Oh, he does have some of this…I was worried I might have to mix some myself.”   
Oatmeal worked for chickens, in a pinch, but Medic had already been prepared for such an event as an orphaned bird. Luckily for her it wouldn’t need nearly as much as a hatchling. She hastily mixed feed and water to feed the bird under the watchful eyes of the Heavy. He was more than capable of caring for the tiny birds. In fact, he typically cared for smaller ones.  
She hoped she’d get some sleep tonight.   
The living quarters were positioned not too far away from the forts. No one dared make a move outside of a fight, though. It was generally understood that battle was to stay on the battlefield. Nothing beyond childish vandalism ever happened.  
Katja was seated at her desk, head resting on an open book and glasses askew somewhere off her face. She was originally attempting to listen to the little dove, but had fallen asleep around the same time it did.   
The Scouts were together, still wearing a few bruises from when they’d fought over the top bunk. They’d probably continue fighting over it.   
In the same venue as Katja, the Engineer was slumped over his blueprints and wrench, the Sniper was in his camper, the Soldier was snoozing with his shovel, the Demoman was in his own bed, and there appeared to be a Pyro cuddle pile going on somewhere in the living quarters. Spy was nowhere to be found, and no one really seemed to be looking for him at the moment.   
He’d actually just gone out to smoke a cigarette. His teammates were always a little rambunctious, and now it was threatening to become too much. He stared across at the BLU base. Two forms moving against it caught his eye, and he recognized them immediately. The colossus followed by a form in a labcoat…it was unmistakably their Heavy and Medic. He knocked some ash off his cigarette.  
“Spy.” The BLU Heavy grunted, looking almost odd without his trusty minigun.   
“Gruess Gott.” The spindly medic muttered, extending a still-gloved hand to the man.   
“Are you here to gloat about today?”   
“He’s a smart man…I am sure he knows better than to risk it.”   
“Soldier snores…and I desperately needed a cigarette.”   
The Austrian wrinkled his nose and waved the smoke away.   
“I see…well, I heard something and felt I needed to investigate.” The fact that the RED Spy didn’t return his handshake almost insulted him.  
“Were you the one making noise?”   
“I avoid it. What kind of noise was it?”   
“Something splashing…perhaps a rat.”   
“Rats can carry parasites. This is dangerous as well.” Heilwig murmured.   
“Wonderful…fine, I’ll help you two look, but I refuse to set foot anywhere near the water.”  
“You’re not the only one.” The BLU Heavy replied cryptically. The RED Spy changed the subject.  
“So, you have new recruits as well…?”   
“Yes…a Sniper, a Spy and a Soldier.”   
“We have a Pyro, an impudent Medic and a Scout.”   
“She certainly seemed intelligent.” Heilwig murmured, rather impressed by the initiative she’d shown. Even if she’d put one of their new recruits through hell. 

A half-dead rat skittered out of the darkness, soaked to the bone, slipping past the feet of the three mercenaries, causing the Spy to squeal, the Medic to yelp and the former to slip and fall into the water. The Spy swore in French, though both men could’ve sworn there was at least one more language in there.  
“Are you okay?”   
“No.” The Frenchman replied bitterly, dragging himself out of the water and storming out  
The other man shivered and wrung his hands.   
“Why didn’t I bring my hand sanitizer…?”  
“We’ll get you inside and to a bathroom…”   
The Spy watched them go. How neurotic, he thought.  
“Still…I swear, that sounded too big to be a rat…” Heilwig mumbled as he headed back to the living quarters.  
\--  
The Scout’s half of things were messy, as Lukas really hadn’t had a chance to trash the place yet, but he was certain he knew where everything was.  
His comic books were missing. The older of the two shuffled down the hall in his socks. It wasn’t like a Spy to steal that sort of thing. It had to have been that new guy…   
When he entered the kitchen, he found them neatly stacked in order upon the table and Katja with her nose in a first issue of Captain America.   
“I told you, they’re good.” Lukas insisted.  
“Hm, very…”   
“There they are. Hm. I lent them to you, not her…”   
“I thought I’d share them.”   
She simply put the books down and glanced at the stove.   
“Suppose I should start cooking?”   
“Well, usually we’ve got rations, since some of us can’t really cook…”  
Katja and Lukas snorted.  
“Everyone in my family can cook, sew and care for the livestock.”   
“Mhmm.” Lukas confirmed this, looking proud.   
“So, what happened between you and that girl yesterday?” He changed the subject immediately.  
“Oh, her? She seems nice.” Katja said rather absentmindedly. Hard to say if she really thought that or was just saying it. She didn’t seem at all concerned about what the man was saying.   
She looked up suddenly as the sound of metal on wood rang through the base.   
“…I suppose I’ll take a look, then…”   
Katja cautiously opened the door to see the woman from before standing there with a shovel (and corresponding marks on the door).   
“Why?” She asked, feeling the question itself was obvious.   
“Did you hear? They’re calling stuff off today. Someone disappeared in Hydro.” The excitable woman barked(saying that she ‘spoke’ didn’t quite capture the sheer volume and force).   
“We’re under attack! PROTECT THE BRIEFCASE!” The RED Soldier thundered as he clomped down the stairs with all the grace of a drunken rhinoceros. He knew that this had to be the coming of the vampire Nazis.  
“Did you get bitten yet, Katja?”   
“No, it’s just a BLU…”   
He seemed slightly disappointed, and then shook his head sadly when Katja was dragged off by her arm. They always went for the foreigners first. Lukas glanced up, confused and concerned.  
“I want to show you something!” She insisted.   
“O-Okay…?”   
Was she being captured now? This was odd. She wasn’t exactly in a position to argue. They headed farther into the BLU base, with Katja protesting a few times during the trek. This was not something she was familiar with. Was this normal in this area of the world?  
“Have I just been kidnapped?”   
“No, you’re fine. Now where’s…Heilwig!”   
The wiry male adjusted his golden-framed glasses and looked out from under them. He didn’t want to be interrupted…  
“Hey, she’s from Germany, just like you. Remember her? We saw her yesterday.”   
Heilwig bristled a bit, but decided to be polite. Well, she was wrong, he wasn’t German, but he wasn’t about to correct her. He knew better than that.  
When the other doctor was set down, she brushed herself off and glanced up. Awkwardly, she extended her hand for a handshake, and he leaned down to kiss her hand.   
“…That was impressive, yesterday.” He said simply.   
“I didn’t see you all that much, I’m afraid. You’re…”   
“Heilwig. But I don’t suspect we’ll be using our names often, being enemies.”  
“Neither do I. My name is Katja.”  
A silence followed.   
“…This is against the rules, of course.”  
“I thought so…”   
“Aw, we can’t get in trouble if it just happens once! Then never again, I promise.”   
Heilwig cocked an eyebrow. That was very much a huge leap in logic. Besides that, those people out in town really didn’t like the mercenaries. The idea of going out there made him unspeakably uncomfortable.  
“…Still…”   
“Don’t be a party pooper! Come on!” She grabbed his arm as well.   
The BLU Heavy shook his head as the BLU Soldier dragged her unwilling captives off base. This couldn’t end well, it certainly couldn’t.  
\--  
Behind them, all was not well.   
The water in the darkest depths of the sewers bubbled and frothed as if it were alive.  
The emerging creature was not normal, in any sense of the word. It was a twisted mockery of the human form, with tattered rags that were once clothing hanging off its body. The creature’s maw opened up and emitted a tortured, warbling noise from the back of the throat. The scent of blood and decay mingled with the stagnant storm water. Blood stained the water as it moved along the piping to be cleaned and treated. This was Teufort, blood was a part of life. No one would notice.   
The once-human dragged itself through the water with great effort, chest heaving each time. The rats, accustomed to the intrusion of people, fled in terror to desert the sinking shop that was the pipe system.   
The monster was loose…and starving.


	6. Crawling Horror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When something goes wrong off-base, fighting is called off to investigate, but as the group plays, something lurks nearby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note that the use of 'ze' and 'hir' is to prevent overuse of 'it' and 'The Pyro'.

Even if the group thought they were alone, there were always eyes. Nothing escaped the eyes of the Administrator.   
“You aren’t worried, ma’am?”   
“Think about it for a minute. The one lived her entire life in Germany. The little soldier’s entire family works for Mann Co. One doesn’t know, the other knows only what she’s been told.   
“And the BLU Medic?”   
“He wouldn’t say anything. He knows the consequences. He’s got a few secrets that he doesn’t want out, after all.” He wasn’t the only one who had secrets. Seemed a lot of the mercenaries did, but the Administrator prided herself in knowing them all. There was nothing about these people she did not know.  
\--  
It was just as bad as Heilwig had thought.   
His gaze shifted to a building he recognized instantly. In the window was a pair of dancers performing a classic (although untrained) pas de deux…Heilwig scowled. That technique was deplorable. Dancing that way would only earn one a pulled muscle. Whatever person was trying to teach these students clearly didn’t know what they were doing. Certainly his teacher wouldn’t have accepted…  
“Hey, Wigs, are you coming with us or not?”   
“Oh, of course…” He backed away. That part of his life was over…for the most part. He still caught himself every once in a while. He had to remember that here, he was a mercenary. He wasn’t the well-bred young man that had come out of Austria, he was a reviled mercenary. Admittedly, though, all the tutoring in the world wouldn’t convince him of that.  
He watched the girls shove eachother around in front of him.   
\--  
A blue-suited figure pranced about in the sewers, sloshing through the waist-deep water and humming an Italian-sounding song that was muffled and unrecognizable thanks to the heavy gasmask. The sights and sounds were blocked out, turning the world into a little bubble of solitude.

The noise of water splashing had the mercenary turning around to investigate. The left tank had been crushed and was now spilling combustible fluid into the sewer water. That was solid metal. Not even bullets managed to break it open. What was going on here?   
The view through the mask was pastel colors around something…vaguely human-shaped. Vaguely was the key word, since the rest of it didn’t seem to make sense. Not even the Pyrovision could’ve made that look nice.  
The ‘head’ opened up to reveal a maw of jagged teeth, and solid tendrils came off the creature’s body, some branching out into two or three like an animated kudzu vine. The tendrils darkened to pitch black, save several electric blue ring-shaped areas that were now glowing brilliantly. Several of them lashed out at the covered mercenary and grabbed hir. Ze wasn’t about to get taken out by whatever this was…still, those tendrils seemed to have sharp bits, and itchy stinging bits. The sharp parts dug in through the suit, causing blood to drip. The Pyro managed to wrestle a hand free and go for the Scorch Shot. There was a window of a few seconds, and that was all it took to pull the trigger. The bright flash seemed to do more damage than the actual shot, as the creature recoiled and dropped the Pyro, who turned tail and fled from the sewer. Once out in the light, ze stopped and relaxed a little. It didn’t last long.  
“Hmm…?”   
The Pyro’s gloved hands rose to hir covered throat and face. The mercenary’s unseen face was tingling and seemed to be swelling in parts. Hir unseen eyes bugged when ze realized that the swelling wasn’t just restricted to the lips and tongue. Ze remembered that hir team’s Medic had gone out to town and ran off to try and find him. Ze didn’t make it very far before the collapse. Luckily, Katja was the first to see this and immediately rushed to tend to the fallen person.   
“…Anaphylaxis…is your Pyro allergic to anything?”   
“I wish I knew, but no…”   
“I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it’s not latex.” Leah offered.   
“Probably not…do we have epinephrine?”   
“Probably…but we need to get an airway established first, I don’t like our chances here.”  
She lifted the gas mask up ever so slightly to reveal the Pyro’s neck and palpated it.  
“…Damn, where is that laryngeal prominence?”   
“I’ll find it, you get the supplies.”   
Heilwig palpated the Pyro’s neck. Katja seemed to be right…that Adam’s apple was proving hard to find. It didn’t really protrude at all. In fact, the angle of the thyroid cartilage seemed to be…  
“…There, finally.” He ignored that thought and placed his fingers around the area. “Cut between my fingers.”   
Wordlessly, Katja made a half-inch incision.   
“Ballpoint pen tube?”   
“Of course. Here.”   
She stuck the clear plastic tube from the pen into the wound. That seemed to do the trick. Working together, the two managed to carry the injured Pyro into the BLU base. “Expose the thigh, I’ll get the epinephrine.”  
Katja couldn’t help but pause when she cut part of the suit open and revealed the skin beneath. Alright, definitely not a robot, but…  
“Here, quick.”   
She dropped the subject and delivered the injection into the muscle. The two doctors breathed a sigh of relief at once and moved to determine just exactly what led to this chain of events.  
“…Katja, these wounds…small rings of punctures. What kind of weapon could make that mark?”   
“And how could it cause that reaction?”  
“It looked like a severe allergic reaction, possibly to venom of some kind.”   
“But with those corresponding marks…”  
“…Maybe we should get a sample…”  
“…That might be our culprit here…” With a pair of tweezers, she gently dislodged some sort of bony three-pronged claw from the skin.   
“What is that…?”   
“I’ve never seen that before…” Heilwig adjusted his glasses and took a look.   
“It reminds me of a fish hook, actually…which might explain these wounds here.”   
“They could. Pulling something like that out could leave a mark like this. But then, what about these…?” He gestured to several perfect rings of tiny puncture marks.   
“Bizarre…”

 

The sky was a much darker blue than they were used to, and the clouds were swirling. Katja sipped idly from her mug as she watched the sky. She enjoyed the taste of the black tea.   
She didn’t know much about sewers, but she had to wonder if whatever was down there could access the town from there. It obviously managed to get through a flame-retardant suit. Imagine what it could do to someone who wasn’t protected…  
She collected her thoughts. Whatever it was had fled when it encountered resistance and didn’t like light. Those could have been animal traits…those were easy to deal with. People were hard to read sometimes, but animals were predictable.  
The sky was a much darker blue and the clouds were collecting. The place probably could use the rain.   
“Evening, Pyro.” She heard the squeak of rubber walking into the room and immediately knew. The Pyro was definitely a strange one, but seemingly harmless outside of battle. She was still working on understanding that one, but most of the time she could grasp the basics.  
“…What do you think this is?” Katja asked, figuring that anyone’s opinion might help her at this point. She held out a hastily-drawn picture to the Pyro, who stared intently. With a muffled noise, it suddenly ran to the bookshelf and grabbed a dictionary.   
“You have, I take it…?”  
Pyro expectantly pointed at a picture of a squid in the dictionary. Well, a squid’s suckers could probably do that, but…they wouldn’t at all be living around here.   
“Hm, yes, a squid could probably do that…”  
She continued to doodle the wounds on a piece of scratch paper, perplexed. Pyro watched her hands intently and excitedly ran to find hir own crayons. When ze returned, ze presented a crudely drawn picture of a person with weird growths on their torso. Upon close inspection, those seemed to be…tentacles?   
“…Have you seen this before?” She asked pointing at the drawing several times to try and keep the Pyro interested. Her interest had definitely been piqued. Shared delusion or otherwise, this had to be investigated.


End file.
